Elizabeth Millet Chase poems

Collection

Identifier: MC111

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

Typescripts and a few manuscripts of more than 400 poems written by Elizabeth Millet Chase, daughter of Bates professor George M. Chase, between 1953 and 1956. Also includes biographical information about Chase.

Dates

1953 - 1956

Creator

Chase, Elizabeth Millet, 1908-1966 (Person)

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

The collection is the physical property of Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. Bates College holds literary rights only for material created by College personnel working on official behalf of the College, or for material which was given to the College with such rights specifically assigned. For all other material, literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for obtaining permission from rights holders for publication or other purposes that exceed fair use.

Historical Note

Elizabeth Millet Chase was born in Lewiston, Maine, on April 6, 1908, the second child of Bates professor of Greek and Latin George M. Chase and his wife, Ella May (Miller) Chase. She lived with her parents on Frye Street near the Bates College campus until their deaths, and thereafter rented rooms to young Bates female instructors. Chase suffered from significant physical deformities, caused reportedly by a pituitary gland disorder, as well as mental health issues which eventually forced her to leave her home and sign herself into the Augusta mental health hospital. She died there from pneumonia on December 21, 1966 at the age of 58.

Chase studied music in Boston and wrote poetry, completing many poems during the mid 1950s which she shared only with a few individuals. Growing up, she also spent time with her grandfather, Bates president George Colby Chase, and his wife, Emma.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Typescripts and a few manuscripts of more than 400 poems written by Elizabeth Millet Chase, daughter of Bates professor George M. Chase, between 1953 and 1956.

Organization and Arrangement

Alphabetical by folder title.

Acquisition and Custody Information

Gift of David and Patricia Packard Reed, 2010. Elizabeth Chase gave the poems to Velma Davis, her nurse. Ms. Davis gave them to Margaret LeClair Packard, whose daughter, Patricia Packard Reed, donated the originals to the Muskie Archives. Patricia's husband, David, created the transcriptions, which are also included in the collection. Accession No.: 2010-012, 2010-128.